When a person receives a traumatic injury, the person's survival often depends upon rapid attention from emergency medical personnel followed by immediate transfer to a properly equipped medical facility. The personnel who are first at the scene of the injury are responsible for treating any immediately life threatening injuries and for stabilizing the patient for immediate transport to the medical facility. Some of the most vexing injuries faced by emergency medical personnel are those involving the neck and back. If the spine is damaged, the very act of moving the patient may exacerbate the problem and lead to more extensive spinal injury. Without radiographs, it is impossible to determine the extent, if any, of damage.
In the past, there has been some controversy over the best way to treat these injuries prior to transport. Some authorities have recommended immobilizing the neck and back in the orientation in which the injured person was found. Other authorities favored moving the patient into a neutral position prior to immobilization. Today, most practitioners follow the second option and immobilize the patient in the neutral position.
A number of devices and procedures have been developed to immobilize victims in a neutral position prior to transport.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,486, issued to Islava, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,766, issued to Durham show the use of foam blocks positioned on either side of a patient's head and secured to a spine board, typically with hook-loop tape. Generally, at least one strap secures the patient's head against the foam blocks, thereby attempting to immobilize the head. The disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,185, issued to Garth et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,322, issued to Miller, teach the use of devices having pillows or pads that are wrapped around a patient's head and secured to the spine board, again attempting to immobilize the head.
Still other devices, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,842, issued to Miller and U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,268, issued to Phillips, disclose strapping a patient's head directly to the spine board such that it is completely immobilized. U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,923, issued to Prolo, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,323, issued to Rudy, disclose securing a patient's head to a device that is fastened to a spine board with mechanical fasteners.
The arrangement disclosed in Rudy secures the head to the device at a single point near each side of the spine board, a pad for supporting the head is fixed to the device which is attached to the spine board with mechanical fasteners. Although the head can move slightly longitudinally relative to the device, the device cannot move relative to the spine board.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,912, issued to Scheidel et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,994, issued to Basha disclose head restraining devices in which the head support device is not fixedly attached to a spine board. Sheidel discloses the use of two adjustable straps extending outward from the head restraint device and attaching to the side of the spine board to provide single point lateral stability. Basha discloses the use of four straps, one at each corner of the device, the straps are elastic and therefore allow some motion in all directions. Both Sheidel and Basha include the use of a longitudinal tension strap for applying traction to the head thereby limiting any downward longitudinal motion. Both devices use a forehead strap and a chin strap to secure the patient's head to the device. Sheidel also discloses the use of a contoured head pad, but it does not conform to the patient's head when the straps are secured. The device disclosed in Basha has a large surface area providing high friction between it and the spine board when it is secured to the spine board by elastic straps. Therefore, it is unlikely that the device of Basha would move as the patient's body normally shifts slightly during transport. The Sheidel device is much smaller and preferably made of an elastomeric urethane foam. Such material is not very slippery and would probably not readily move relative to the board.
The common factor in most of these devices is the simple expedient of firmly attaching the patient to the surface of a stiff board “spine board” which acts as a stretcher to allow the patient to be carried without allowing any flexing of the patient's potentially injured back or neck. This is generally accomplished by firmly securing the head to the spine board, such that the position of the head will not change or shift during transport
While the devices of the prior art work to completely immobilize the head of a patient during transportation to a medical facility, they do not address the inevitable resulting compression of the cervical spine when the body of the patient shifts during transportation to such a facility. Failure to address such compression can cause unnecessary pain to a patient as his or her body shifts during such transportation, it can further exacerbate an already existing injury, or in the worst case, it could cause an injury to a previously uninjured patient who is strapped to a spine board as a precautionary measure.
Therefore, there exists a need for a device or appliance to be utilized in case of a suspected or actual cervical spine injury that stabilizes a patient's head on a spine board in a manner restricting lateral and elevating movement, while allowing the head to move with the body longitudinally up and down the spine board, and rotate off axis longitudinally in direct conjunction with the body as it shifts during transport. Such a device that is disposable and easy to use is a significant advance over the prior art.